To hear sound clips or learn more about this release, Turbula recommends viewing the band's Web site.

This is an independent release by a local artist. Keep reminding yourself of that while you're listening, because this new album by Danielle LoPresti & The Masses is so polished, so focused and so very confident that the experience of hearing it is very much like listening to a release by an established star with a lavish recording budget.

Alternatingly moody and powerful, introspective and assertive, tender and angry, "Outloud" is nothing if not poised. Lo Presti's third release (a fourth, the first she recorded, has apparently yet to be released) has a touch of that swagger that marks an artist with a vision and the know-how to pull it off.

LoPresti is a powerhouse singer, her band endlessly adept at creating a framework for her to work within. Stylistically, the band's approach is broad, inclusive and far-ranging. Listen to the dozen songs on this release, and you'll hear influences ranging from '70s arena rock to punk to industrial to power pop to glam.

Lyrically, LoPresti and Co. are hard-hitting and frequently political, but always heartfelt and rarely preachy. The end result is that you can disagree with a song's message yet still love the song.